I'm concerned I might actually BE Bridget Jones

Not that there's anything wrong per se with being like Bridget Jones but you can't say that she really has her life together can you? If you've seen the film adaptation of Helen Fielding's The Bridget Jones's Diary then I have no clue why you wouldn't give the book a shot. They really stayed true to form with the film and it's even funnier on page. Bridget is a Singleton who really just wants to find a guy who is less of a f***wit and more of a Mr. Darcy a la Pride and Prejudice. (Sidenote: It amuses me more than I can say that the characters actually talked about the BBC adaptation with Colin Firth and it was this same man playing Mark Darcy in the film adaptation of Bridget Jones's Diary. Yes, I AM easily amused.) The book is written in true diary format and at the header of each day's entry Bridget obsessively calculates weight, alcohol units, cigarettes, calories, lottery tickets, etc. I enjoyed the bawdy humor and the writing style of Fielding very much. If you're looking for a quick read that's sure to make you laugh then I highly recommend this one.

I ordered a few Halloween-y books which I was hoping would arrive before I had finished Bridget Jones's Diary but unfortunately they haven't come in yet. No matter! I snapped up a Hercule Poirot mystery, The Clocks, written by the indomitable Agatha Christie (of which I'm a huge fan). This mystery revolves around a murdered man who is found surrounded by you'd never guess it clocks. Poirot is challenged to solve the murder without ever visiting the crime scene or talking with witnesses. Is it possible to solve a crime using the little grey cells and nothing else? Well, I guess we'll shortly find out!!

Writing a prequel for a book written years ago and NAILING IT

I think that blog title pretty much sums up how I felt about The Adventures of Ben Gunn. Firstly, the man wrote the book because he was a massive fan of Treasure Island and he had all of these unanswered questions (and also his kids kept asking him questions about their favorite bedtime story). So his solution was to write the prequel himself. GENIUS! Secondly, he was able to write it in the same style as Robert Louis Stevenson so it didn't have that awkward feel of an imposter trying to step into the author's shoes. It felt seamless and true. The characterization was spot on and getting the backstory on Gunn and his impressions of Long John, Hands, Bones, Flint, and the rest of the crew made Treasure Island even more special in my opinion. I think RLS would have been proud of this work and I think anyone who is a fan of the classic pirate story and always wondered about the events leading up to Gunn's marooning should read The Adventures of Ben Gunn.

I've had a book on my TRL for ages now and it's finally become available at my library so I snatched it up without hesitation. If I gave you a few bullet points about it could you figure it out?

• It was made into a movie.
• There's a character with the last name 'Darcy'.
• It focuses on a year in a single woman's life.

Any guesses?

If you guessed Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding then you were absolutely correct! Here we go!!